22:11 - Hex_Omegaflight, change your title from 'Stamp Tramp' to 'Master Of The Lists'. 15 lists in 4 months, lol

22:02 - mzyeah Neachy. I've been so out of the metal globe for 2.5 months and have checked only 4 albums: Eerie( 2014), that black metal album with red cover form Iceland, desolate shrine and Abyssal Gods. All of them are very good :D

Gothic metallers Trail Of Tears find themselves facing a turmoil. Vocalist Ronny Thorsen and Cathrine Paulsen have entered a war of words after Cathrine Paulsen announced through the band's official Facebook page that Ronny has decided to leave the band after various problems during the making of their upcoming new album Oscillation. Ronny Thorsen refuted her version of the story and gave his own. It seems like the band is falling apart.

Cathrine Paulsen extremely lengthy statement: "Ronny Thorsen has decided to leave Trail Of Tears. The band supports him in his decision, although we think the timing is very bad. The reason for his decision has been various problems during the making of Oscillation, where Ronny have contributed with lyrics and vocals."

"The making of the album has been a very hard process on all of us. Ronny Thorsen felt the process was going too slow. Meanwhile, others have worked very hard to finish it. This major contrast between those who have spent almost every day during the last three years to make the album as good as possible, and those who have been more busy pushing some in the band to the edge of breakdown, is the main reason in this conflict. I (Cathrine) have to speak my mind this time, and I really feel that I need to speak the truth."

"Through the years Trail Of Tears have suffered several split ups. Last time the whole band left Ronny. I need to say, there are reasons when the whole band leaves like that. Ronny was responsible for their tour in Mexico at the time. He told the band there was a contract for the tour, which there wasn't. In Mexico all went wrong, and with no contract the band didn't have any rights. Ronny went behind their backs and sent them to Mexico with no contract - and lied about it. That's why the band left last time. I was thrown out of the band in 2004. After A New Dimension Of Might I waited for new songs. Then I received a SMS saying I was no longer wanted in the band. In the magazines I could read that we had agreed that I quit. That was nothing but a lie that they made up. I never quit, I was kicked out without any explanation. In many years, Ronny and I had no contact. I was devastated after this treatment and especially when I had to read all these lies in the magazines. I feel okay about this now, but I want to finally tell what happened."

"When the band left Ronny Thorsen after the tour in Mexico, I contacted him for the first time in years. I wanted to say that even though I felt bad about being kicked out, I thought it was sad to hear that the band had split up. Then he asked me to work with him again, he wanted to continue Trail Of Tears. I had my doubts about that, but I felt that I still had a lot to do in the band. As I said, it was never my decision to leave the first time. I was the one putting the new Trail Of Tears together. I offered my bandmates from Lucid Fear to join the band. That's how Bjørn Erik Næss and Cato Jensen became a part of it. Endre Moe played with Cato in Cutthroat, and we brought him onboard as well. I told Ronny that I expected him to show me respect, and to not backstab me again."

"During this cooperation I have felt frustration and sadness many times. I found out I still don't have any reasons to trust Ronny, as I and the rest of the band have started to read news about the band on Facebook. That means that he doesn't communicate with the band anymore. I cannot work like this, so it's easy for me to support his decision to leave the band. Ronny made this decision in October, still he keeps running the show alone, making decisions for the band without even asking or telling the rest. That becomes even more wrong when everyone else do most of the work in this band. I feel like shit writing this, but I will not tolerate anything but the truth anymore. This is hard for me, because I am an honest person who really cares for those around me. That means to take care of the other guys' interests, as well as my own. I have to set a limit and put an end to what's going on behind the scenes, before lies will be spread all over the world again."

Ronny Thorsen released the following response on his personal Facebook page: "Wow, what a day! I just came home after having dinner with my wife for her birthday. Halfway through dinner my phone all of a sudden started going nuts and messages from all over the place started ticking in. Apparently it turned out that I had left Trail of Tears. After reading the statement on the official Trail of Tears Facebook page I can honestly conclude that a certain female singer has lost her final remaining piece of sanity. It is indeed fascinating how much nonsense and lies one person is able to spew forth."

"In all honesty, the working climate within the band has indeed been difficult for a while. This has been the case for quite some time and the whole thing escalated when Cathrine and guitarist Bjørn Erik Næss became a couple about a year ago and started forming their own little alliance within the band. It was a mutual decision amongst the members that we were going to finalize and release this new album and then go our separate ways as it was no longer possible to see eye to eye on how to run this band. I want to make it perfectly clear that I had every intention to do just that, to release one last killer album and then for everyone to go on with other musical endevours. This, obviously, was not possible. Cathrine says in her statement that the timing is bad, well no shit. I had no intention to announce any departure before we had honed up to commitments and released this final album. It was my sincere wish that everyone could act as normal, regular adults here and do the right thing, both towards our fans as well as our business partners."

"Again, a pure ego trip from her side prevented that from happening. What is also interesting to see is that Cathrine failed to mention that both bassist Endre Moe AND drummer Bjørn Dugstad Rønnow have also decided to leave the band. The three of us have done so because we are tired and completely drained from the drama caused by Cathrine and her guitarist boyfriend. So to quote Cathrine's own words, when several members leave then there is indeed a reason for it. Well, three members just walked out on you and your boyfriend Cathrine, including the founder and sole original member of the band, so maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself if it's everyone elses fault or if the problem is in fact closer to yourself that what you like to think. I have been more than fair with Cathrine and stood by her side and supported her after behaviour where few others would. I also find it puzzling that Cathrine has chosen to stay in the band for as long as she has if everything was as bleak, frustrating and sad as she claims it to have been. As for her comments about what happened in Mexico seven years ago, I'm not even going to comment on those, as it is absolutely retarded for someone to have such strong opinions on something that you were not part of. Were you in Mexico Cathrine? No you were not."

"The last time that the band experienced member exits, I chose to take the high road refusing to lower myself to the level of those who left, who tried to set a new world record in shit-talking. Because of that I allowed people who I regarded as friends to be brainwashed by only hearing one side of the story. Well, this will not happen again and this time I will stand up for myself. Because of the fact that I have been blocked from the band's official Facebook page (very mature), you can read my words here on my personal page. So. As something ends, something else begins. I have been planning to launch a new band for a while and there will be some news about that in the near future. Trail Of Tears has been a part of more than half my life since it was started more than 15 years ago. It has been a tremendous ride and I've had a blast, from now on let's look ahead. There is a lot more fun to be found out there! Stay safe all of you, thanks for your amazing support and I look forward to see you all soon!"

I was reading to that whole word-war between them yesterday on FB and gotta say I'm devastated to lose another great band. IMHO Trail of Tears were the last remaining great goth band that fused the male and female vocals and now this has happened. Instead of one great band we'll now get two mediocre (like Tristania falling apart and the formation of Sirenia, Theatre of Trgagedy and Leaves Eyes are the ones that pop into my mind immediately. They were all great bands and after the departure of one member there is just a great lack of energy and synergy in music composing).

I'm not sure whom to believe right now, but I'm sure Ronny will continue making greater music than Cathrine & her bf. It just so happens I believe he should have taken the name ''Trail of Tears'' with him.

So, now all the members left except Cathrine and her bf? Until we get an official statement I would not blindly believe what Ronny said, even though it is weird that he got blocked on the bands FB page.

And I would not trust him too much, Free Fall Into Fear was a mediocre release and it proves that he could not stay at the surface in the period of time when Cathrine wasn't around. When she came back, we get 2 gothic masterpieces like Existentia and Bloodstained Endurance.

I think Trail of Tears could still move on, Ronny is a good vocalist, I cannot deny that, but he is not unreplaceable. Even if we get a major line-up change, with more than half of the members gone, I still think Cathrine can pull it through. Once again, there is no official statement that the other members left as well, according to what Ronny is saying, so before we jump to conclusions, lets wait for some more news.

This one seems to me more like a family drama though, pretty pointless argues between people with different visions. I wonder, why do people really feel like turning everything into a pointless drama, when you can just bury the entire conflict and walk on different paths, is it really that great to throw with mud at eachother and loose the respect of the fans?

IMHO Trail of Tears were the last remaining great goth band that fused the male and female vocals and now this has happened. Instead of one great band we'll now get two mediocre (like Tristania falling apart and the formation of Sirenia, Theatre of Trgagedy and Leaves Eyes are the ones that pop into my mind immediately. They were all great bands and after the departure of one member there is just a great lack of energy and synergy in music composing).

I totally agree. I find it very hard to imagine that anything remotely positive will come out of this drama. It is such a shame...

I'm also very sad to read that one of favourite bands is torn apart by internal conflict. I don't wanna take sides in this conflict (as only people involved know the truth) but I sincerely hope to hear something nice from Ronnie in the future as for me he is a kind of an embodiment of Trail of Tears.